Calling For Backup

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This week I've been having a real issue with Anna. She has always been a bit of a hypochondriac at heart, and yesterday she wanted to stay home from school simply because she was "tired". I said no, then it morphed into "but I'm sick". After I took her temp (which was normal), I told her again that she was going to school and off she went, begrudgingly. After school, she felt well enough to ride her bike, eat through several snack packages of Doritos, fight with her brother and hang upside down off the couch, singing loudly. Then she headed off to her Dad's, where she did more of the same. This morning when Peter dropped the kids off, she tried to play the "I'm too sick for school" card and Peter and I stood there, a united front, telling her that she was definitely going to school.

It's possible that she may yet try to go to the nurse and get out of school today, but I doubt it – having both of us stare her down this morning made it clear that we're not going to let her slack off. I've also talked to her to make sure there isn't something else going on at school (a bully or maybe a teacher she doesn't want to see), and it's really just Anna wanting to sleep in. She never has been a morning person (she gets that from her mother, believe me), but school is school, just like work is work, and neither of us should be missing either one just because she's wanting to sleep late.

At any rate, I'm glad Peter was here to reinforce all of that. It's good to know that we've still got each other's back sometimes, even if we're not under the same roof for more than 15 minutes at a stretch.

Do you get the backup you need from your ex on parenting issues? Has it always been that way, or was it something you really had to work on?